| Book, Lyrics and Music by Gerry Cullity
Directed by Jessica Frieling
Cirrus, Cumulus, Thunderhead and other clouds are ominously gathering near our Theatre. Rain, hail, sleet and snow have also been sighted. What's causing this atmospheric disturbance? Gerry Cullity's original rock opera In The Kingdom of Clouds is returning to our stage. From the heartfelt love ballad When I Look Into Your Eyes to the show-stopper Song of Life , Gerry Cullity's lyrics and music weave a powerful tale that explores a time when children have lost their ability to imagine shapes in the clouds.
To understand In the Kingdom of Clouds --take a trip back to the time of lying on your back, watching the clouds, seeing their shapes and imagining what they are and what they could be. In a 1999 interview, creator Gerry Cullity talked about this musical: “As a child, I'd watch the clouds and remember being told that you can make them change shape just by using your imagination,” he said. “What would happen if the children on Earth stopped imagining the clouds?” That idea formed the seed for his In the Kingdom of Clouds, which originally premiered at Desert Stages in May, 1999.
Cumulus, King of the Clouds, sends his son Cirrus to Earth to find out why his clouds are no longer changing shapes. Cirrus finds an Earth with no adults and children split into two factions—evil Nomad Runners and frightened Steel Settlers. Will Cirrus be able to help the frightened children rediscover the love they lost and regain their power of imagination? Not if Thunderhead, Ruler of the Dark Clouds, and Aurora—Cirrus' jealous friend—have their evil way.
But changes in the elements are only part of the story, explained Cullity. On a deeper level, In the Kingdom of Clouds referred to his experiences with the children he directed at Desert Stages Theatre. Being around so many children, Cullity noticed how frightened they were when they first auditioned and began performing. ”But what I heard later from parents was—not how their child had become a better singer or actor necessarily—but how he or she had suddenly ‘opened up',” he explained. “They had found some place where they belonged; where they felt important about themselves. That child stopped being afraid because he or she had found something that mattered. It could be theater, it could be sports—but whatever it was that gave that child joy—it made them come out of their cocoon and made them grow. If you took that away, life got very dark.” Not unlike the life of the frightened Steel Settlers that we meet in In the Kingdom of Clouds.
The forecast for In the Kingdom of Clouds? Sunny skies ahead! Be sure to join us in our Actor's Café for the concert version of this powerful musical.
CLICK HERE TO VIEW A TRAILER FOR IN THE KINGDOM OF CLOUDS |
